Now that United, Delta and American have all rolled out no-frills Basic Economy fares on domestic flights to compete with the prices charged by ultra-low-cost carriers, are those carriers running scared?

Frontier Airlines isn’t. Quite the opposite: Frontier this week announced plans for a massive purchase of new aircraft. Combined with its earlier aircraft orders that haven’t yet been delivered, the deal would triple the size of Frontier’s fleet in 10 years, from 70 planes today to more than 200.

The company said it intends to purchase 100 new A320neos and 34 A321neos from Airbus, for delivery from 2021 to 2026. That’s in addition to 67 A320neos already in the purchase pipeline, and an existing order for 18 A319neos that Frontier is converting to A320s.

“By 2026, we will be in a position to deliver ‘Low Fares Done Right’ to more than 50 million passengers a year,” said Frontier CEO Barry Biffle in announcing the fleet expansion. In 2016, the airline carried 15 million passengers.

Frontier’s route network is constantly shifting as it adds and drops markets. But a few months ago, the airline announced plans to add 21 cities to its system by next spring, and to add more frequencies on other routes that it already serves. That includes a larger presence at its Denver base and at San Jose, among other cities.

Frontier’s fortunes have been rising in recent years. The Denver Post said that in filings related to an impending public stock offering, Frontier reported that its net income increased from $140 million in 2014 to $200 million last year as its fuel costs have been dropping and its ancillary revenues have been increasing.

Frontier’s ultra-low-cost carrier business model relies on ancillary fees from all kinds of amenities and services to supplement its low fares. A July 2017 report from Ideaworks said that in 2016, more than 42 percent of Frontier’s revenues came from ancillary fees – compared with just 7.7 percent in 2011, before it changed its business model.

The airline’s ambitious growth plan will initially focus on its Denver hub, where it will add most of the new routes announced last summer. That could mean a big battle for market share at DEN, since United Airlines also has plans to enlarge its hub there, and Southwest has grown rapidly at Denver in recent years as well.

Denver International will get 39 more gates in the next few years. (Image: Jim Glab)

According to FlightGlobal.com, United’s chief pilot in Denver said in a letter to other pilots last week that United plans to increase its Denver operations from the current 363 daily departures to 400 in 2019, and that DEN could eventually become United’s second-largest hub (after Chicago O’Hare).

Fortunately, Denver should be able to accommodate plenty of growth. Airport officials recently said that their plans to expand the passenger concourses have been revised: Instead of building 26 new aircraft gates in the next four years, they now plan to build 39.

In domestic route news, American grows its Philadelphia hub and expands transcon wide-body flights there; United adds spokes to its O’Hare and Denver hubs; JetBlue revives a California route for the holidays; Southwest drops a Washington D.C. route; and Frontier keeps rearranging its network.

American Airlines is expanding access to its Philadelphia hub by adding several new routes there. On February 15, American will add daily A319 flights between PHL and San Antonio, followed on May 4 by new daily E175 American Eagle service between PHL-Madison, Wis.; and twice-daily roundtrips between PHL-Des Moines, Iowa; and PHL-Omaha, Neb. The airline also said that beginning March 25, it will deploy a wide-body Airbus A330 on one of its daily flights between Philadelphia and Los Angeles International, “offering West Coast customers better access to PHL and American’s transatlantic service.” Meanwhile, the A330 that American just started flying on one of its daily PHL-San Francisco flights will now be extended until at least March 4 instead of ending on December 14 as previously scheduled.

Moab, Utah is the gateway to Aches National Park. (Image: Discover Moab)

Effective December 1, United is due to add a couple of spokes out of Chicago O’Hare, with six flights a week to Quincy. Ill., and to Cape Girardeau, Mo., using CRJ-200s. At its Denver hub, meanwhile, United is looking at a May 1, 2018 start for new service to the outdoor activities mecca of Moab, Utah, offering 12 flights a week via Skywest CRJ200s; followed on June 1 by new service from DEN to Vernal, Utah, also running 12 times a week with Skywest CRJ200s.

For the third year in a row, JetBlue plans to lay on special holiday-season service between its New York JFK hub and Palm Springs, California. The daily flight will operate from December 21 through January 3, and it will use an Airbus A321 that features JetBlue’s premium-class Mint service with lie-flat seats.

November 4 is the final day for Southwest Airlines’ three-year-old route between Indianapolis and Washington Reagan National. A Southwest official told a local business publication in Indiana that the route just wasn’t attracting enough business to make it profitable.

OneJet uses small Hawker 400XPs on short-haul routes. (Image: OneJet)

The former CEO of Milwaukee-based Midwest Express Airlines – which disappeared in 2011 – is behind an effort to bring new service to MKE from OneJet, a business jet operator that offers scheduled service on underserved business routes out of Pittsburgh (including daily Pittsburgh-Milwaukee service). On November 1, OneJet is due to start twice-daily roundtrips from Milwaukee to both Columbus, Ohio and Omaha, Nebraska, using seven-passenger Hawker 400XP jets.

It’s difficult to keep up with all the route news from ultra-low-cost Frontier Airlines, but we’ll try. The carrier just kicked off new daily flights from San Jose to Denver, to be followed by four flights a week from SJC to Las Vegas November 1, and less-than-daily departures to five other cities next April. At Cleveland, meanwhile, Frontier has axed the four weekly CLE-San Diego service that it just launched last spring, as well as seasonal flights from Cleveland to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston And Charlotte. But the airline is expanding at Denver, starting less-than-daily frequencies to Omaha November 2; to Grand Rapids December 10; to Charleston, S.C. February 20; to Little Rock March 1; and to Tulsa March 15. The carrier plans to add daily Orlando-Phoenix service November 1 and three weekly Orlando-Memphis flights November 2. On December 16, Frontier will start three flights a week between San Francisco and Las Vegas. At Colorado Springs, Frontier plans new flights to San Antonio and Seattle starting April 8 and to San Jose and Minneapolis-St. Paul as of April 9. Seasonal service from Philadelphia to Charleston, S.C. three days a week starts February 20, followed by less-than-daily service from PHL to Jacksonville February 14, to Madison April 8, and to Memphis and Omaha April 9. Twice-weekly Frontier service from Chicago O’Hare to Charleston, S.C. starts May 11, and limited-frequency service from Omaha to Las Vegas starts April 8, followed by Omaha-San Francisco June 4.

Frontier is adding more new routes at Mineta San Jose- including an Atlanta nonstop. (Image: Frontier)

In domestic route news, ultra-low-cost Frontier announced even more new service at San Jose; Alaska kicks off its big bump in Bay Area service, and deploys more Virgin A321neos; Delta adds new flights to ski destinations; American expands its schedule to Vail; and Twin Cities-based Sun Country Airlines moves to a new business model.

Two months ago, Frontier Airlines announced plans to add service from Mineta San Jose to four cities – Denver, Las Vegas, Austin and San Antonio. Now Frontier is adding three more cities to its SJC schedule: Atlanta, Cincinnati and Colorado Springs. Atlanta and Colorado Springs flights will operate four days a week starting April 9, 2018, while Cincinnati service will fly three days a week as of April 8. Daily SJC-Denver service kicks off October 5, followed by SJC-Las Vegas four days a week beginning November 1, SJC-San Antonio three days a week as of April 8 and SJC-Austin three times a week starting April 9.

Take a streetcar ride through New Orleans to see how it’s changed since Katrina (Image: Pixabay)

Back in March, Alaska Airlines/Virgin America unveiled plans for a big expansion of activity in the Bay Area, and this fall those new flights are finally starting to operate. Alaska recently started new daily mainline service (using A320-family planes from Virgin’s fleet) from San Francisco International to Philadelphia and to Nashville, to be followed by daily flights from SFO to New Orleans beginning September 21, to Indianapolis September 26, to Baltimore-Washington October 16, to Raleigh-Durham October 19, and to Kona, Hawaii December 14.

Also part of Alaska’s Bay Area expansion are new E175 flights out of Mineta San Jose, including four flights a day to Los Angeles beginning September 20, and recently-launched daily service to both Austin and Tucson. At its Seattle hub, meanwhile, Alaska plans to drop its existing daily Horizon Air non-stops to Colorado Springs effective November 4.

Virgin America’s new Airbus A321neos will hold 24 percent more passengers than its A320s. (Image: Airbus)_

Alaska subsidiary Virgin America is getting more new Airbus A321neos, and has revealed the markets where they will begin to operate. Virgin will use an A321neo for one daily Los Angeles-Honolulu flight beginning November 5 (moved up from January 4, 2018); two daily San Francisco-LAX flights beginning November 5; a daily San Francisco-Seattle flight as of November 6; daily SFO-Kona service starting December 14; daily LAX-Maui flights as of January 14 and flights once a week from SFO to San Diego and SFO-Las Vegas beginning January 14 and February 11 respectively. The A321neo (which stands for New Engine Option) is the largest aircraft in Virgin’s fleet, with 185 seats, vs. 146-149 for its A320s.

Delta is beefing up its winter schedule to ski destinations this year. Beginning December 21, Delta will offer daily flights from Salt Lake City to Eagle, Colorado (the airport for Vail) and to Montrose, Colorado (the gateway for Telluride), plus flights once or twice a week from Atlanta to Vancouver, B.C. (the gateway to Whistler). From December 21 through April 2, Delta will also increase frequencies this year from its hubs to its existing ski destinations including Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs and Montrose, Colo.; Sun Valley, Idaho; Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana; Reno/Tahoe; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Calgary/Banff, Alberta and Vancouver/Whistler. You can click here and scroll down to see the full Delta ski schedule.

Speaking of Vail/Eagle, Colorado, American Airlines plans to extend its seasonal service from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Vail, making it a year-round daily operation next year. Currently, only United Express has year-round Vail flights.

A Sun Country Airlines 737. (Image: Sun Country)

Ever fly Sun Country Airlines? That Twin Cities-based niche carrier recently hired a new CEO named Jude Bricker, who formerly worked at ultra-low-cost Allegiant Air. And according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the new chief plans to move Sun Country over to the same ultra-low-cost business model used by Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit Airlines. Citing a memo to employees at Sun Country, the newspaper said the changes will mean “more seats on airplanes” and a plethora of new passenger fees, including one for overhead bin space. It also means diversifying Sun Country’s route network away from its heavy reliance on MSP, where it is caught in a squeeze between legacy carriers and ultra-low-cost competitors. There’s no word yet on how soon flyers will see those changes.

Low-cost specialist Frontier Airlines has unveiled plans for a huge network expansion, adding 21 cities to its route map by next spring. The carrier will also add service on dozens of new routes between cities it already serves.

The company said the total number of non-stop routes it serves will nearly double by next summer, to 314. Frontier is due to take delivery of more than a dozen new aircraft by the end of next year, and will also free up more planes by trimming frequencies on some existing routes.

At Mineta San Jose Airport, Frontier will start flying to Denver on October 5 and Las Vegas on November 1, followed sometime next spring by flights to Austin and San Antonio. Some routes seem a little odd, like a new nonstop between Atlanta and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The biggest bump in Frontier’s schedules will come at Denver, its headquarters city. In addition to San Jose, Frontier will add flights from DEN to Ontario, California beginning October 12; Albuquerque on October 24; Oklahoma City November 1; Palm Springs November 10; Reno November 21; and later to Boise, Buffalo, Calgary, Charleston (S.C.), El Paso, Fargo, Fresno, Grand Rapids, Jackson Hole, Little Rock, Louisville, Pensacola, Spokane and Tulsa.

The airline will also bulk up its schedule at Islip, Long Island with new service to Ft. Myers, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare and Detroit. New routes from Austin in addition to San Jose will include Ontario, Calif. as well as Phoenix, New Orleans, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Columbus.

Frontier’s announcement did not specify the number of flight frequencies in its new markets (but it’s schedules are notoriously thin, which means problems when flights are cancelled). You can see a complete list of all of them here.

“Customers will benefit not only from the broad new selection of nonstop routes, but our growing network will provide more than 1,000 new connecting route options,” said Frontier CEO Barry Biffle. “By taking advantage of our natural share of connecting passengers, we can offer our low fares to even more of America. This is particularly important through our largest hub and our home in Denver.”

Frontier has a history of announcing batches of new routes every now and then, and discontinuing service on others. Of the 21 cities it is adding to its network, 16 are airports that it once served but then stopped.

But the size of the latest expansion announcement is unprecedented. We have to wonder if this could be Frontier’s response to the growing availability of new “basic economy” fares on the major legacy airlines – fares which are the legacy carriers’ competitive response to the growth of low-cost carrier service in many markets.

While the focus of Frontier and other low-cost carriers is bargain-basement base fares, they also rely on a variety of add-on fees for various amenities to boost their passenger revenues.

But Frontier is not ignoring business travelers – it has a bundled fare category called The Works that includes refundability, a carry-on bag, a checked bag, priority boarding, a waiver of change fees and the best available seat. These fares (which start as low as $59 each way) appeal to business travelers at small or medium sized companies without clout or budget for these extras.

By phone: “Hello? Hello? Chris? Sorry for all the noise. I’m stuck at the airport. My morning flight to Mexico City on Volaris just canceled, and they can’t put me on another flight until 11 pm tonight. There’s an Aeromexico flight at noon, but it’s $1,100. What can I do? What are my rights? Everyone around here is so pissed off!”

By email: “Frontier just canceled my flight to Tampa four hours before I was supposed to take off. They’re telling me there is no way to get there today. Does anyone have insight here? I am so angry/sad/lost.”

My reply: “When a flight cancels, all the airline has to do is provide full refund or a seat on its next flight. There are flights on other airlines to Tampa, but they are not required to accommodate passengers on those. It’s kinda what you get when booking with ultra low cost carriers. What was your fare?”

That’s typical of an increasing number of desperate inquiries I get from travelers marooned by canceled flights on low-fare carriers. (Low fare carriers in the US include Frontier, Allegiant and Spirit. Volaris is a low fare carrier in Mexico. European low fare carriers include Norwegian, WOW, Easyjet and Ryanair)

The sad news is that there’s very little you can do if you are stuck in an irregular operation like a long delay or cancellation (called IROPS travel industry parlance). In the case of flight cancellation, all any airline is contractually required to do is offer you a seat on their next available flight, or refund your money if you decide to cancel the trip altogether. It is not required to offer you a seat on another carrier.

The problem with most low fare carriers is that they usually only offer one or two flights per day on most routes. If your low-fare flight cancels, you might have to wait until the end of the day– or worse, the next day to be re-accommodated on that carrier. (And if you are traveling during peak season, you might have to wait a few days if flights are sold out.)

What’s important to reiterate is that the low-fare carrier is under no obligation to pay for your flight on another airline. Back in the day, airlines would frequently offer to put you on another carrier with which they had an “interline agreement.” but most airlines, especially low-fare airlines, have ditched those to save money. (Delta and American ditched their interline agreement in 2015, which exacerbated its operational meltdown last week.)

So, you end up “getting what you pay for” when you book a low-fare carrier with a thin schedule. A good rule of thumb when booking low-fare carriers is to check and see how many flights per day it offers, then determine your risks.

A good example of this is the market between Atlanta and San Francisco. Delta offers seven nonstop flights per day on the route– with the lowest fares usually in the $350 range. United offers two nonstops at about the same price. Frontier, which frequently offers fares as low a $200 round trip, only offers one.

This is one way major carriers with robust schedules have a leg up on the low-fare competition with their new “basic economy fares.” During IROPS, a major carrier can usually offer several nonstop or one-stop alternatives to get you to your final destination a few hours late instead of a day or two late. A low-fare carrier can’t. And you get stuck.

Has this happened to you? How did it work out? Have you flown a low-fare carrier? Please leave your comments below.

Delta is growing again at Cincinnati. (Image: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport)

In domestic route news, Delta will grow at Cincinnati, and keeps a key Dallas route for now; Southwest adds new routes from Long Beach and Ontario; Alaska enters a new market from Orange County; Frontier adds new service in 10 markets; and Spirit Airlines expands in the northeast.

For years, Delta has been scaling back operations at Cincinnati, which was once one of its hubs. But now the airline plans to grow there, citing 15 straight months of increasing passenger numbers. Delta said its plan calls for a capacity increase of 6 percent in total seats flown out of Cincinnati, including the addition of more frequencies in five key business markets, with additional daily flights from Cincinnati to Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Orlando and Toronto.

It will also upgrade Cincinnati-Denver service to mainline aircraft, and will offer first class seating on all flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Its seasonal winter service from Cincinnati to Ft. Myers will continue to operate daily through the summer, Delta said, and its seasonal Seattle flights will extend into the fall and spring. Finally, departures from CVG to Charlotte, Hartford, Newark and Philadelphia will be retimed to permit easy same-day trips out and back. The airline will have a total of 82 peak-day departures at Cincinnati this summer, to 35 destinations. (More Cincy news below!)

Dallas Love Field will keep Delta service to Atlanta — for now. (Photo: Chris McGinnis(

In other news, Delta has won a court victory – for now, at least – that allows it to keep operating five flights a day between Atlanta and Dallas Love Field. Southwest has been eager to kick Delta out of the Southwest gates it has been subleasing at DAL, in a court fight that is going into its third year. A district court has blocked Southwest from doing so until the matter goes to trial, and this week an appellate court upheld that ruling. So Delta’s DAL-ATL route is safe for the time being. Delta offers even more service between ATL and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Southwest Airlines is adding two new routes out of southern California. From Long Beach, Southwest just started operating twice-weekly 737-700 service to Denver. The flights operate on Saturdays and Sundays. Southwest has also kicked off new daily 737-700 flights between Ontario, California and Dallas Love Field.

Continuing its growth at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, Alaska Airlines has set an August 18 start for new service from SNA to Albuquerque. The flights will operate once a day, using Horizon Air E175 jets with 12 first class seats, 12 in premium class and 52 in regular economy. That’s the same date that Alaska will begin recently announced new service between Portland and Albuquerque.

Frontier Airlines plans to kick off new daily service between Cincinnati and New York LaGuardia on April 21, and it also announced new service with less-than-daily frequencies on nine other routes. From Austin, Frontier will begin four flights a week to Washington Dulles on April 21, and three a week to San Diego beginning April 23. Other new service from Cincinnati includes four flights a week to Minneapolis beginning April 21 and three a week to San Diego starting May 21. From Cleveland, Frontier will add four weekly flights to Charlotte on April 21, three a week to Minneapolis starting April 23, four a week to Houston Bush Intercontinental and four a week to San Diego, with both routes starting May 22. Also on the schedule is new service three days week between Chicago O’Hare and San Antonio starting April 23.

Spirit Airlines will add new service out of Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport to sun destinations this spring. On April 27, Spirit will launch daily service from Bradley to Orlando, and four flights a week to Myrtle Beach, S.C. On June 15, the airline will add daily service from Bradley to Ft. Lauderdale.

One Caribbean capital is about to experience what could be the biggest influx of new airline service from the U.S. of all times. In early July, the Transportation Department approved routes to Havana, Cuba for several U.S. airlines. Those route awards were finalized in late August, and airlines have started to announce their inaugural service dates for late fall and winter. Some are still subject to Cuban government approvals.

Alaska Airlines, which will have the only non-stop service to Havana from the West Coast, has set a January 5 start for its new Los Angeles-Havana flights, which will depart LAX at 8:50 a.m. The flight will originate in Seattle. Roundtrip fares from LAX start at $490.

Because the purpose of a traveler’s visit must fall within one of a dozen specific categories, and other formalities and requirements must be met, Alaska has posted a handy blog page with details for customers to know before they book their flight. Alaska said it is working with Cuba Travel Services to help customers obtain visas, accommodations and ground transportation at the destination.

Here is a link to the U.S. government’s official restrictions on travel to Cuba; scroll down to Page 10 to find specifics of the 12 categories of travel.

Nonstops to Havana from U.S. airlines. (Image: Great Circle Mapper)

Delta has targeted December 1 for the launch of daily flights to Havana from Miami and New York JFK along with one-stop service from Atlanta. For travel in February, we found roundtrip fares starting at $200 from Miami, $410 from JFK and $452 from Atlanta.

United Airlines has set a November 29 start for daily non-stops from Newark to Havana, followed on December 3 by weekly Saturday servicefrom Houston Bush Intercontinental to the Cuban capital. Fares in January start at $413 roundtrip from Newark and $513 from Houston.

November 30 is the target date for American Airlines’ new daily flight to Havana from its Charlotte hub. American was also awarded rights for four daily roundtrips from Miami, although it hasn’t yet announced a starting date for those. January roundtrip fares start at $421 from Charlotte.

Chris getting a shave in Cienfuegos, Cuba in May 2016

Frontier Airlines on December 1 is expected to start daily service from Miami to Havana, and will offer connections to that flight from Denver and Las Vegas.

Other new Havana routes expected to start in the next few months include JetBlue service from JFK, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando; Southwest Airlines flights from Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa; and Spirit Airlines from Ft. Lauderdale. Several airlines have already started or are about to launch service on routes to secondary cities and beach resorts in Cuba; those routes were awarded earlier.

In domestic route news, there’s lots of extra capacity coming to Florida, including new United routes from San Francisco and Spirit Airlines routes from Ohio, plus a new Florida destination for Frontier Airlines. Meanwhile, Virgin America plans to increase capacity from the West Coast to Newark Liberty International Airport.

United will use 737s on new San Francisco routes to Florida. (Image: United)

United’s newest domestic routes from San Francisco will be to Florida, starting in late fall and winter. The airline said it plans to begin a daily San Francisco-Miami flight on December 16, reviving a route that it dropped 12 years ago. United will also introduce a daily SFO-Tampa flight beginning February 16. Both routes will use 737s.

Just a few days after Alaska Airlines announced some new routes to Newark, Virgin America said it will also take advantage of the FAA’s plan to open up more slots at that airport this fall. Effective November 18, Virgin plans to increase Newark frequencies from three flights a day to four from both San Francisco and Los Angeles. The extra SFO flight is scheduled for a 9:40 a.m. departure from San Francisco, while the fourth LAX departure will be at 7 a.m.

Spirit Airlines is adding new service from Ohio to Florida (Image: Spirit Airlines)

Spirit Airlines plans a big expansion of service at Akron/Canton, adding four Florida destinations beginning November 10. The schedule includes new daily flights from Akron to Ft. Lauderdale and to Orlando, along with seasonal service from Akron to Ft. Myers four days a week and to Tampa three days a week. On the same date, meanwhile, Spirit will also suspend service between Cleveland and Dallas/Ft. Worth, changing that route from year-round to seasonal; the DFW flights will begin again on April 26.

Punta Gorda, Florida is about 25 miles north of Ft. Myers, and it has an airport that’s a lot less busy than the latter city’s Southwest Florida International; Punta Gorda is currently served only by Allegiant Airlines. So Punta Gorda is the newest airport that will go onto Frontier Airlines’ route map. On October 30, Frontier will add new service to Punta Gorda from Trenton, N.J., operating year-round four days a week. On the same date, Frontier will begin seasonal service three days a week between Punta Gorda-Philadelphia and Punta Gorda-Chicago O’Hare, continuing through April.

Last month, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded U.S. carriers new route rights to serve secondary cities in Cuba, but not the biggest plum – Havana.

This week, DOT finally acted on all the requests it had from U.S. airlines to operate regular scheduled service to the Cuban capital, awarding Havana routes to eight airlines for flights that are likely to start sometime this fall.

The preliminary route awards are still subject a public comment period before being finalized. Tickets are not yet on sale, but should be later this summer. Right now, round trip charter flights from Miami to Havana are running at about $450 round trip, a price that we expect to drop significantly when competition cranks up in the fall.

The only Havana route from the West Coast went to Alaska Airlines, which will operate daily non-stops from Los Angeles using a two-class, 181-passenger 737-900ER. The flight will originate in Seattle, offering same-plane service top Cuba. Alaska said it expects to begin the service by year’s end. From LAX or SFO, current fares to Havana via Mexico City (Aeromexico) or Panama City (Copa) are about $625 round trip.

Most of the new routes will be from the eastern U.S., especially Florida. The exception to that rule was DOT’s selection of United to operate Houston-Havana flights, but only once a week. United will also operate daily non-stops to Havana from its Newark hub.

American Airlines will offer four daily roundtrips to Havana from Miami and one a day from Charlotte; Delta’s new route authority includes daily roundtrips to Havana from Atlanta, New York JFK and Miami; JetBlue won rights for two daily flights from Ft. Lauderdale and one each from New York JFK and Orlando; Southwest’s new route authority provides for two daily roundtrips from Ft. Lauderdale and one from Tampa; Spirit Airlines got two daily Ft. Lauderdale-Havana flights; and Frontier will be allowed a single daily flight from Miami to Havana.

Nonstops to Havana from US cities announced today (Image: Great Circle Mapper)

Technically, the U.S. still does not allow for simple tourist travel to Cuba; Americans who go there must fall into one of 12 categories approved by the government, including things like journalistic activity, professional research and meetings, educational activities and so on. Here’s a link to the Treasury Department’s rules for travel to Cuba.

Have you been to Cuba yet? Will you go in the near future? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below!

TSA’s PreCheck program is getting a lot busier this summer. (Image: TSA)

Now that the Transportation Security Administration is trying mightily to convince more travelers to join its PreCheck program in order to cut down on overall waiting times at security checkpoints, that program is facing some new strains: Two more airlines will soon be participating in it, and a surge in PreCheck applications is slowing down processing.

The only two large U.S. airlines whose passengers cannot currently use PreCheck – even if they are members — are Spirit and Frontier. The reason is a problem with their operations software, which is unable to communicate passenger information to TSA.

But according to the travel industry news website Skift, those problems should be resolved within a matter of weeks, allowing the two carriers to fully participate in the expedited screening program and sending thousands of additional travelers into PreCheck lines. Skift said the two carriers could start PreCheck participation as soon as the end of July.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that persons who apply for PreCheck membership (or Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry, which includes PreCheck privileges) are facing long waits – not at the airport, but in getting their applications processed.

Both programs require a personal interview, and TSA is using an outside vendor to provide more than 300 locations nationwide for that purpose. But AP reported that at many enrollment centers located in big cities, appointment calendars are full up for the next month and a half – or in some cities, much longer.

The AP said that the number of PreCheck applicants has more than tripled over the past few months, rising to 16,000 a day in May.

Alaska Airlines and American are launching a big code-sharing expansion. (Image: Jim Glab)

In domestic route news, American and Alaska expand code-sharing, and AA adds a Washington D.C. route; United sets a pair of new San Francisco routes and seasonal service out of Newark; Delta ends a year-round Alaska option; Frontier starts a big expansion at Atlanta and Chicago; a small carrier begins two new Pittsburgh routes; and a private jet charter service begins Atlanta-area operations.

With Delta keeping the pressure on Alaska Airlines at the latter’s Seattle hub, Alaska and American Airlines are planning a significant expansion of their code-sharing partnership. Effective April 28, American will put its AA code on Alaska flights from Seattle to Atlanta, Charleston (S.C.), Nashville, New York JFK, Raleigh, Sun Valley and Washington Reagan National, as well as Alaska flights from Los Angeles to Baltimore/Washington, Monterey, Salt Lake City and Washington Reagan National. Then on May 15, Alaska’s code will show up on 14 AA routes out of Charlotte, nine out of Chicago O’Hare, 27 out of Dallas/Ft. Worth, and scores of additional AA routes out of Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington Reagan National. In other developments, American plans a July 5 start for new daily service between Washington Reagan National and Lansing, Michigan, using a two-class, 76-seat American Eagle regional jet.

On September 8, United Airlines plans to add a new spoke from its San Francisco hub by launching daily service to Omaha, Nebraska with a 76-seat Embraer E175. United already flies to Omaha from its Denver, Chicago, Houston and Newark hubs. In another SFO schedule enhancement, United will operate seasonal daily service to Aspen, Colorado from June 9 through August 15. Meanwhile, United also plans to add seasonal service from its Newark hub to Bangor, Maine from July 1 through October 29 using a 50-seat regional jet.

Turkish Airlines landing at San Francisco International Airport (Chris McGinnis)

Delta has suspended its seasonal New York – Istanbul flights due to security concerns, weak bookings and cancellations. However, Turkish Airlines’ daily ATL-Istanbul flights are set to begin on May 16. Last fall, Delta decided to operate its Seattle-Juneau, Alaska route on a year-round basis, but now the airline has changed its mind. Delta now plans to end SEA-Juneauflights on August 31, with a resumption of seasonal service in 2017.

Low-cost Frontier Airlines has kicked off a big wave of new routes. At Atlanta, Frontier this month started flying to Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Memphis, and resumed seasonal service to Austin, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Trenton. At Chicago O’Hare, Frontier started flying to Charlotte, Kansas City, Nashville, Portland, St. Augustine (Fla.), Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and revived seasonal flights to Austin, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Raleigh-Durham and Trenton. Frontier also added new service from Cleveland to Portland (Ore.), Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Many of the new flights operate just a few days a week.

A new private jet option for Atlanta’s northside (Image: JetSmarter)

The private jet company JetSmarter plans to begin Atlanta-area operations on May 3, offering twice-weekly flights to and from Westchester County, N.Y. and weekly roundtrips to Ft. Lauderdale. The flights operate out of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), using Falcon 2000 jets that seat up to 10 passengers. The company uses app-based reservations; it charges a $3,500 initiation fee and an annual membership fee of $9,675, but imposes no other cost for its flights.

OneJet, which specializes in serving small to medium-sized markets with small jets, will expand at Pittsburgh in June, launching twice-daily roundtrips to Hartford on June 8 and two daily roundtrips to Milwaukee beginning June 14. The company will also double its Pittsburgh-Indianapolis schedule from two flights a day to four as of June 14. OneJet promises its customers TSA PreCheck access, expedited boarding and high-speed in-fight Wi-Fi.

Explosive growth at ultra-low-cost Frontier Airlines — including lots of new routes out of Atlanta this spring — has come with a cost for travelers: Lots of flight delays, unanswered calls at its reservations center, and other operational problems. And now it may have cost the airline’s CEO his job as well.

The official word from Frontier was that CEO David Siegel resigned this week for “personal reasons,” but carrier officials also stressed that a reorganization is underway to get operational problems under control.

Siegel’s resignation came just a few days after the Transportation Department released its latest consumer report, which showed that complaints against Frontier skyrocketed more than 500 percent from March 2014 to March 2015. During the same period, the airline’s monthly passenger load increased more than 17 percent to more than 1 million.

It was about a year ago that Frontier, under Siegel’s guidance, started its conversion from a mere low-cost carrier to an ultra-low-cost carrier, driving down its operating costs — and its base fares — as much as possible, while tacking on more passenger fees, like one for carry-on bags.

Also released this week was the latest Airline Satisfaction Ranking from J.D. Power and Associates, which showed that Frontier ranked last among low-cost carriers — tied with WestJet and AirTran, well below JetBlue and Southwest.

In summarizing its 2015 findings, J.D. Power noted that overall satisfaction among travelers who select an airline based on its reputation or its customer service is much higher (812 on a 1,000-point scale) than it is among those who pick an airline to get the lowest fare (732).

The carrier now flies to 16 cities non-stop from Atlanta, and officials told local media that they see room for even more new routes there. Rival Spirit Airlines has also been adding Atlanta markets in recent months, making the busy airport a new battleground between ultra-low-cost carriers and the dominant Delta and Southwest.

Atlanta-area travelers can benefit from ultra-low fares on the upstart companies — Frontier was promoting one-way fares of $19 to $99 on its new routes — if they’re willing to pay all the ancillary fees.

Besides new Cincinnati-Atlanta service, meanwhile, Frontier also started flying last week between Cincinnati-Ft. Myers, and boosted schedules on other Cincinnati routes, increasing Ft. Lauderdale service from three flights a week to seven, Orlando from four a week to seven, and Las Vegas from one a day to two.

Atlanta is turning into the newest test market for the hottest trend in the airline business — the ultra-low-cost carrier.Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines are both planning significant expansion at ATL: Spirit said last week that it is adding nine new routes there this coming spring and summer, and Frontier announced today that it will fly nonstop to 10 more cities from ATL, for a total of 16.

On April 30, Frontier will launch a daily nonstop between Atlanta and: Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, New Orleans and Minneapolis/St. Paul. To celebrate, the airline is offering one-way fares as low as $19 between ATL and New Orleans or Orlando. It should not go unnoticed that nearly every one of these cities is a key Delta hub or focus city, so it’s clear that low-frills Frontier has Delta in its crosshairs (Southwest, too).

A Frontier spokesperson told TravelSkills, “Frontier is going from six destinations to 16 from ATL by April 30. We will be ATL’s third largest carrier in terms of departures this summer. Denver is still our largest hub, followed by Chicago O’Hare, then Atlanta.”

Just last week, Delta and Southwest faced another significant threat by another “ultra low cost” carrier. As we reported on TravelSkills, Spirit Airlines announced nine new nonstop routes from ATL, giving it a total of 15 destinations out of Atlanta.

Frontier previously announced that it will launch nonstops from ATL to Austin, Indianapolis, Miami and Philadelphia in March.

It will be interesting to see how the established players respond. Equally interesting will be to see how these two ultra-low cost entrants will fight since many of these new routes overlap. In either case, it likely means lower fares in Atlanta and elsewhere. But stay tuned… both carriers have a history of moving in and out of markets very quickly.

Highly restricted, but quite a good deal if you can get one, and avoid all the extra fees. But will you?

Let’s compare these two ultra-low cost contenders:

The two airlines have some strategic similarities. With their focus on keeping basic fares to an absolute minimum, they charge more kinds of ancillary fees than other airlines(most notoriously for carry-on bags that go in the overhead bin). They also tend to have limited schedules, rarely more than one flight a day in a given market, and often only a few flights a week — hardly ideal for business travelers who value schedule frequency above all else. That’s because these airlines are going after extremely price-sensitive customers, nibbling around the edges of the larger market.

And from a bottom-line standpoint, it’s a formula that works: Spirit has become a darling of Wall Street, with better profit margins than its larger competitors and ambitious growth plans. Spirit’s total capacity rose by 18 percent last year, and is expected to increase an amazing 30 percent in 2015, making it — in percentage terms, at least — the fastest-growing airline in the country. But Spirit, which has been flying scheduled passenger service since 1992, is also the only U.S. carrier to hold a lowly two-star rating from Skytrax, the big airline quality monitor.

Frontier has been around even longer if you count the original Denver-based carrier that started up in 1950 but went bust after the airline deregulation wars. The modern incarnation of Frontier dates back to 2001, and it was acquired — after it went bankrupt — by Republic Airlines Holdings, an operator of regional carriers, in 2009. After a few years of trying, Republic couldn’t make Frontier work in a highly competitive Denver market (where United was dominant and Southwest was moving in fast), or in the other various markets where it tried to establish a niche, so in 2013 it sold Frontier to new investors — the private equity firm Indigo Partners, which turned Frontier into an ultra-low-cost carrier. That wasn’t really a surprise, since the man who runs Indigo Partners — William Franke — pioneered the concept when he ran Spirit Airlines.

Spirit Airlines’ A320s offer a tight 28 inches of space between each seat- the tightest in the industry (Photo: Bernal Saborio / Flickr)

So how do these two ATL interlopers stack up against each other? Both rely on one-class, single-aisle Airbus planes. The standard seats on Spirit’s A319s, A320s and A321s have a knee-crunching 28-inch pitch and seats that are less than 18 inches wide (“We’re a cozy airline,” Spirit admits on its website). The planes also offer a few better seats (four on A320/321s; 10 on A319s) called “Big Front,” with 36-inch pitch and 20-inch width, and of course they’ll cost you extra. At Frontier, standard seats have a more generous (by ultra-low-cost carrier standards) 30-31 inch pitch and seat width of 18 inches. Frontier’s planes also offer 30 (on A319s) or 36 (A320s) “Stretch” seats at an extra cost, with 36-38 inch pitch and 18-inch width.

Fares on Spirit are transportation-only, or as Spirit calls them, “fully unbundled.” If you want anything more than a seat and storage under the seat for a small personal item, you’ll pay more. At Spirit, that even includes water. If you don’t print your boarding pass at home, Spirit charges you $10 to do it at the airport. At Spirit, the cost for a carry-on bag ranges from $26 (if you pay online when you book) to $100 (if you wait until you’re at the gate to pay).

Business travelers may want to consider Frontier’s “Stretch seats” which offer more legroom (Image: Frontier Airlines)

And checked bags carry fees as well, ranging from $21 to $100 for the first one. Want to select your seat before check-in? That’ll cost you from $1 to $50 for standard seats, or $12 to $199 for Big Front seats.

At Frontier, the fee for a carry-on bag ranges from $30 to $50 depending on when you pay, although Frontier does offer bundled fares that cost more but include some services. So for those who buy these Classic Plus fares (which allow full refundability, same-day standbys and no change fees) there’s no extra charge for a carry-on (nor is there one if you’re a Summit or Ascent-level member of Frontier’s Early Returns loyalty program). A checked bag costs $25-$30, again with exemptions for Classic Plus buyers and loyalty elites. Extra-legroom Stretch seats on Frontier are available free to Classic Plus fare buyers and to Summit and Ascent-level loyalty members; other passengers can upgrade for fees that start at $15. (Frontier also offers “Select” seats for fees starting at $5. These are just regular coach seats that happen to be closer to the front of the plane than the others.)

Both airlines also have loyalty programs that are pretty basic. Spirit’s is called Free Spirit and Frontier’s is EarlyReturns. Free Spirit is quite limited in its partner companies — just one hotel group, for instance (Choice Hotels International). Frontier’s plan is more traditional in that it offers tier levels that carry fee-waiving benefits, starting with Ascent level at 15,000 miles or 20 segments a year; Summit is 25,000 miles/30 segments.

So, frequent traveler… what do you think? Would you venture to fly on an “ultra-low cost carrier?” How do you think Delta will respond in Atlanta, or other legacies will respond in other cities? Please leave your comments below.

Did you miss Saturday’s issue of our Weekend Edition? No probs! Here’s the link:

Editor Chris McGinnis

Trending on TravelSkills

Editorial Disclaimer: This editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program. Responses in the comments section are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”